On the small island, Sanders let out a thunderous shout. Instantly, sand and stones filled the air, with earth and rubble on the ground transforming into several massive lion heads charging toward Kaido.
After battling Golden Lion Shiki for many days and acquiring the powers of the Float-Float Fruit, Sanders had become extremely adept at using Shiki's techniques.
Watching the lion heads rushing toward him, Kaido's eyes flickered with a hint of surprise.
"This technique… it seems so familiar!"
"Iron Rod Strike!"
Kaido's arm muscles bulged, and he swung his spiked club with immense force. A circular shockwave blasted toward the lion heads, shattering them into pieces. Dirt and rubble scattered in all directions.
"Sanders, what's the meaning of this technique?" Kaido asked in confusion after destroying Sanders' attack.
He had seen this move before—back when he was still a lackey, standing beneath Shiki.
"Taught by Golden Lion Shiki!" Sanders laughed heartily, unleashing a bolt of lightning without hesitation, aiming straight for Kaido.
"Don't spout nonsense!"
"Learning sword techniques is one thing, but this move was developed with the Float-Float Fruit! How could you possibly use it?" Kaido cursed loudly as he dodged Sanders' lightning strike.
From their previous battle, he knew Sanders had learned Shiki's swordsmanship. The style carried the unmistakable flair of the Golden Lion.
But sword techniques were one thing; they could be learned. Kaido himself had stolen moves from others when drunk, but those were limited to haki or physical combat techniques.
The core of the Earth Scroll move, however, lay in the Float-Float Fruit's abilities—something impossible to mimic.
If Sanders weren't already a Devil Fruit user, Kaido might have considered it. But the world knew Sanders wielded the powers of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, a fact proven in their last fight.
"You've got a lot to learn, Kaido!" Sanders chuckled.
"Gravity Blade: Tiger Strike!"
With those words, Sanders formed a blade of lightning in his hand. Infused with the power of the Gravity-Gravity Fruit, he swung the blade.
A powerful horizontal gravity slash surged toward Kaido, accompanied by a massive flying slash. Wherever the attack passed, the ground and everything on it was flattened and destroyed.
Kaido met the attack head-on, swinging his spiked club to counter.
After deflecting the slash, Kaido's expression changed.
A tremendous force descended upon him. His once-agile body suddenly felt incredibly heavy, and the spiked club in his hand felt several times heavier.
Kaido's entire body sank half a meter into the ground.
"Is this… gravity?"
Kaido looked up sharply at Sanders, his eyes filled with disbelief. Moments ago, Sanders had used the powers of the Float-Float Fruit, and now his attacks carried the properties of gravity!
"You... what the hell is going on?"
"How do you have the powers of multiple Devil Fruits?!" Kaido shouted in shock.
Sanders smiled faintly and replied,
"Why are you so surprised?"
"Your Azure Dragon Fruit can control lightning, fire, and wind, can't it?"
"That's different!"
Kaido's eyes widened in frustration, feeling as though Sanders was spouting nonsense.
It was perfectly normal for his Mythical Zoan Fruit to grant control over wind, rain, thunder, and lightning—after all, such abilities were inherent to the mythical Azure Dragon.
But this was something else entirely!
"You possess the powers of multiple Devil Fruits!" Kaido growled.
"Artificial Devil Fruits already exist, so isn't it normal for someone to have multiple Devil Fruit abilities?"
As Sanders spoke, he moved swiftly, his lightning blade crackling with red Conqueror's Haki as it slashed toward Kaido.
"No wonder you're so powerful!" Kaido exclaimed, his expression dawning with realization.
But almost immediately, he shouted again,
"Wait, no!"
"That gravity-altering power—it's your vice-captain's! Why do you have it? Is it also an artificial Devil Fruit?"
"Don't tell me… you have ties with the World Government?"
Kaido could understand Sanders acquiring Golden Lion Shiki's Float-Float Fruit. After all, Shiki was defeated by Sanders, so obtaining the fruit seemed plausible.
But the Gravity-Gravity Fruit's current user was alive and well, serving as the vice-captain of the Thunder God Pirates.
Unless… the fruit was artificial.
However, artificial Paramecia-type Devil Fruits were something only the World Government controlled. The ones Kaido obtained from Doflamingo were all Zoan-types. If Sanders wanted an artificial Gravity-Gravity Fruit, the only source would be the World Government.
Yet, given Sanders' history of killing Celestial Dragons, Kaido couldn't believe the World Government would ever assist him in creating such a fruit.
But now wasn't the time to dwell on this.
What Kaido truly wanted to know was how Sanders managed to possess multiple Devil Fruit abilities.
Even with Kaido's near-invincible body, having tried every form of suicide imaginable, he didn't dare eat a second Devil Fruit.
"How did you do it?"
Kaido's fiery gaze locked onto Sanders as he roared the question.
Seeing the curiosity in Kaido's eyes, Sanders chuckled.
"Don't even think about it, Kaido. The reason I can do it is simple: I'm special."
In the entire pirate world, the only known person capable of wielding two Devil Fruit abilities was Blackbeard.
"Is that so?"
"Well, that's rather disappointing," Kaido replied, his voice tinged with regret. However, the spiked club in his hands began to swing with even more ferocity.
Looking at Sanders, a man with unparalleled learning ability and the fortune to wield multiple Devil Fruit powers, Kaido couldn't help but feel a pang of envy.
As someone who already possessed an incredibly powerful Devil Fruit himself, Kaido deeply understood their potential. Without the Mythical Zoan Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon Model, even with his exceptional physique, he wouldn't have earned the title of the "Strongest Creature on Land, Sea, and Air."
So, facing someone like Sanders, who had multiple Devil Fruit powers, Kaido's jealousy was inevitable.
If he had a second Devil Fruit ability, Kaido was convinced he could crush anyone—Whitebeard, Shanks, it didn't matter. They'd all be under his thumb.
Though Kaido believed Haki was the ultimate power, a strong Devil Fruit could significantly bolster one's combat prowess. In the hands of someone skilled in both Haki and physical combat, a powerful Devil Fruit was an undeniable advantage.
He and Whitebeard were prime examples of this truth.
"You don't just have the Rumble-Rumble, Float-Float, and Gravity-Gravity abilities, do you?" Kaido suddenly recalled Sanders' unexpected surge of power back in Dressrosa. Back then, Sanders had claimed it was a "special ability."
Now, it was clear—it must have been another Devil Fruit power.
This damned man.
To think he possessed so many powers.
Realizing the truth, Kaido didn't just feel envy anymore—he felt raw, unfiltered jealousy.
Just the Rumble-Rumble Fruit alone made Sanders so formidable. Adding in the other powers, it was clear that if Sanders chose to retreat and focus on developing his abilities, given his talent and comprehension, he could quickly reach the level of awakening.
At that point, the title of the "World's Strongest" would undoubtedly belong to him.
"You guessed right!" Sanders grinned broadly.
A burst of intense frost emanated from his body.
"Ice Block: Twin Thorns!"
Four frozen spears suddenly materialized in front of Sanders. With a wave of his hands, the ice spears wrapped themselves in Conqueror's Haki and shot toward Kaido.
This time, Kaido's composure shattered.
What the hell?! The Ice-Ice Fruit?!
Another powerful Logia?!
As an Emperor of the Sea, Kaido had crossed paths with the Navy Admirals before. Those frozen spears were unmistakably an ability of Admiral Aokiji. He had once tanked a few of them with his body.
And yet...
Kaido wasn't even referring to this fruit when he asked earlier about the one that caused Sanders' sudden power surge.
Now, standing before him, this young man seemed to wield at least five Devil Fruit abilities.
If Sanders managed to develop all of them to their fullest potential, who could possibly stop him?
At that moment, Kaido's lifelong dream of becoming the Pirate King felt like it was slipping further away. A surge of murderous intent rose in his chest.
Now was his chance. While there was still a slim possibility of killing Sanders, he had to act.
He would kill him outright in a fair fight.
With this thought in mind, Kaido's demeanor turned explosively violent. Dark red lightning danced across the island as he unleashed every ounce of his strength. Each strike carried the full weight of his determination, his killing intent unmistakable.
Sanders was taken aback.
What the hell is going on with Kaido?
Up until now, their battle had been intense, but it felt more like a clash of equals, almost like a sparring match.
But now, after witnessing his Ice-Ice Fruit abilities, Kaido seemed consumed by bloodlust, hell-bent on killing him.
Did Kaido suffer some humiliation at Aokiji's hands in the past?
Or was it jealousy over his multi-fruit powers?
Whatever the reason, Sanders had no time to dwell on it.
Facing Kaido's ferocious assault, Sanders was forced to get serious. An all-out, life-and-death attack from one of the world's top-tier fighters wasn't something he could afford to underestimate.
If he let his guard down, he could very well lose his life.
The battle on the island escalated into an all-out war.
Now exposed as a wielder of multiple Devil Fruits, Sanders utilized all of his abilities. Lightning, gravity, ice, and the Float-Float powers all came into play.
On one hand, it was necessary to fend off Kaido. On the other, it gave him the opportunity to refine his skills in using multiple fruits in tandem.
The island became a chaotic battleground. Lightning danced across the skies, the ground froze over, and gravity distorted everything in sight.
Even with Kaido's near-impenetrable defenses, he started to show signs of wear under Sanders' relentless attacks.
Of course, Sanders wasn't unscathed either.
While his attacks were undoubtedly more devastating, his defenses were far inferior to Kaido's. After all, his body was still that of a highly trained human rather than a beastly powerhouse enhanced by a Zoan-type fruit.
By the end of the clash, both combatants were panting heavily, facing each other amidst a ravaged island.
The terrain resembled a battlefield after an apocalyptic war—craters, scars, and frozen patches marred the once-intact land.
Sanders, his upper garment torn to shreds, revealing his muscular physique, smirked and said through labored breaths:
"What's with you, suddenly going berserk? Jealous that I've got all these abilities?"
This fight had been far more exhausting than their earlier exchanges.
Kaido growled in response, his tone filled with menace:
"You're too dangerous!"
"If I don't kill you here and now, I'll never sit on the Pirate King's throne!"
Kaido made no effort to hide his intentions.
He had once thought having a rival to chase after was a good thing. But he didn't want to chase someone he could never surpass.
Simply put, Sanders could be stronger than Kaido, but only to a level Kaido believed he could catch up to. If Sanders became too strong, someone Kaido might never be able to surpass, that would be unacceptable.
And undeniably, Sanders seemed destined to surpass him, potentially becoming so powerful that Kaido couldn't close the gap.
If that was the case, then today, Kaido would defeat him head-on and kill him, fair and square!
Kaido respected strength, which was why he aimed to kill Sanders in a one-on-one duel.
But Kaido was still a pirate. He had no qualms about eliminating threats early, even if it meant resorting to underhanded methods.
After all, when he couldn't defeat Kozuki Oden years ago, didn't he scheme to take him down instead?
The Hundred Beasts Kaido was never just a brainless brute.
Or more accurately, no brute could rise to become an Emperor of the Sea.
"Pirate King?"
Sanders rolled his eyes, immediately understanding why Kaido suddenly seemed so agitated and hellbent on killing him.
"I never said I wanted to be Pirate King, Kaido!" Sanders declared.
From the beginning, becoming Pirate King had never been part of his plan.
If the Celestial Dragons hadn't killed his adoptive father and the Marines hadn't thrown him into Impel Down, he might have ended up like Garp—fighting pirates as a Marine powerhouse.
Of course, if he encountered things that rubbed him the wrong way, such as arrogant Celestial Dragons or corrupt Marines, he wouldn't hesitate to handle them his way.
Simply put, he'd be a Marine by day, cracking down on pirates, while secretly doing things the World Government and Marines wouldn't approve of.
As for becoming Pirate King? He couldn't care less.
King of the World? Now that sounded more appealing.
"Hah?"
Kaido was momentarily stunned.
"You're saying you don't want to be Pirate King or go after the One Piece? Then why the hell are you out at sea as a pirate?"
Kaido couldn't believe that there could be pirates who didn't aspire to be Pirate King or find the One Piece.
"Come on, man, I used to be a Marine!" Sanders laughed, seizing the momentary distraction to land a thunderous punch on Kaido.
"Becoming a pirate wasn't exactly on my to-do list."
Hearing this, Kaido finally remembered—Sanders was a Marine traitor.
He had downed a lot of alcohol and been shocked by Sanders' multiple Devil Fruit powers, which had muddled his focus earlier.
"I'm only interested in making life difficult for the World Government. If you're determined to become Pirate King, I could even help you—as long as you're willing to be my subordinate!" Sanders grinned.
"Bastard! I'm Kaido!" Kaido roared in fury.
"Me, your subordinate? What a joke!"
Kaido swung his spiked club, unleashing a powerful "Great Conqueror: Thunder Bagua" aimed directly at Sanders.
This time, however, Kaido's attack lacked the killing intent it had carried earlier.
If Sanders truly had no interest in the One Piece or becoming Pirate King, perhaps there was room for cooperation.
Sanders was already a top-tier combatant, and in the future, he might become the single strongest fighter in the world.
From Kaido's perspective, if Sanders acquired a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit and fully developed its power, it would shore up his current defensive weakness.
At that point, who in the world could defeat him?
In terms of physical combat skills, Sanders was undoubtedly on par with the elite soldiers of the Marines.
His Armament Haki might not be as refined as Kaido's, but his sheer stamina was monstrous.
His Observation Haki had reached the level of seeing into the future.
He had even mastered advanced techniques of Conqueror's Haki.
As for his Devil Fruit powers? There was no need to even mention those.
In a few years, Sanders alone might surpass the combined strength of the Four Emperors and the Admirals.
Kaido's mind raced, visualizing the Four Emperors and the Admirals.
Comparing them, he realized there might be no one who could reliably defeat Sanders.
Not even Whitebeard.
Especially now, with Whitebeard aged and riddled with injuries.
In his prime? Perhaps.
That golden-haired, crescent-mustached Whitebeard had once dominated the seas with unrivaled ferocity.
If Whitebeard hadn't been so focused on building a family, it might have been difficult to say whether he or Roger would've become Pirate King.
While exchanging blows with Sanders, a thought struck Kaido like lightning, clearing his mind.
He knew Sanders' weakness: his lack of defensive durability and his need for a Zoan-type Fruit to compensate.
As someone with multiple Devil Fruit abilities, Sanders was surely aware of this flaw himself.
Then why had Sanders come after him?
Recalling Sanders' mastery of the Gravity Fruit and the Ice-Ice Fruit, Kaido suddenly felt he had uncovered Sanders' true purpose.
"You're after my Devil Fruit powers, aren't you?!" Kaido roared, smashing his club toward Sanders again.
Sanders froze briefly, surprised by how quickly Kaido had pieced things together.
As expected of an Emperor of the Sea—even Kaido, often dismissed as a reckless brute, had extraordinary insight.
With just a few clues, he had deduced Sanders' goal.
However...
What Saunders wanted wasn't just Kaido's Devil Fruit powers!
He also wanted Kaido's invincible, indestructible, and nearly indomitable physique!
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T/N:
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